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Started a Startup Prod. Company – Hoping to Become Creative AD Director. Is this the Right Path?
Hello! First, this is my first post on Creative Cow and I appreciate that there is such an amazing community of creatives helping each other in such a big way.
A little background: I graduated from USC’s screenwriting program last year, and have since started my own small production company. I serve a very specific niche – I make short film advertisements for the luxury hospitality space. You can see an example of my work here: https://vimeo.com/44558188.
I’ve had some success. Since January, I’ve put in 35k to the company, shot for 7 hotels, and have so far gotten 2 “for-profit” contracts – 12k each, with about 4k profit on each, both in post now. This year, conservatively, if half of my potential contracts go through, I’ll pull in about 70k in revenue, and hopefully be on the way to breaking even.
I did not start this company with the intention of making money (although I’d love to, obviously). Rather – I want to build my own portfolio as a writer/director/producer of short content. Ultimately, I want to join a creative agency as a commercial director (think https://www.epochfilms.com/).
Alternatively, I’d also love to become a Producer at a large creative agency. All of my favorite feature film directors have started out their careers doing short content (Walter Salles (granted he is a Billionaire), Inarritu, Phil Morrison). I have a fairly strong network of folks in the industry, and don’t want to waste that as well.
So the questions:
- Am I on the right path?
- What is the meaning of life?
- Is it naive to say that if I were to continue this company to try and build my portfolio as a director/producer of short content, and also make short films that do the festival route, that I could parlay that into a career as a commercial director/producer?
- I’ve gotten a few full-time job offers to produce short content for corporate companies. Is this a better route to add to my resume?
- What else should I be doing?
Any advice on the business of having a creative corporate video production company, and feedback would be much appreciated as well. Basically, I need someone to tell me what to do with my life.
Thank you for your time and advice. I am young, naive and pessimistic, yet hopeful for the future.
Best,
Ankush K. -
2 Replies
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When the finger points to the moon, don’t concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all the heavenly glory…
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Well, much of the work of a Producer is the business side of things, so running your own production company will most likely be good experience. The potential down side is that you could end up spending your whole life running the company and not have time to develop your creative side, but tbh I have no way of knowing whether that’s a pitfall that would affect you or not.
Right path? No idea, but as you’ve made a start I’d say it’s worth giving it your best shot, don’t be a quitter man, you never really know where a path will end up taking you.
Meaning of life? If I knew that I wouldn’t be sitting here typing replies on my computer to people I’ve never met! Or maybe I would, who knows…
Good luck, I hope things work out
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